The Ahn Cheol-soo phenomenon took a new turn as the potential presidential candidate made a commitment for a 150 billion won ($135 million) donation to charity Tuesday. His surprise action encouraged his supporters in the vast ranks of Korean society and further alerted political parties. The donation makes clearer his intent to enter the 2012 presidential race.

In a press conference at the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, where he is the dean, Ahn said the fund will be created from his 37 percent share in AhnLab Inc., an antivirus software company he founded in 1995. But he has yet to present concrete plans on how to carry out the public promise or for what causes he would use the money. This is an indication that he was pressed to cut a national leadership image sooner than later.

By conceding candidacy for Seoul mayor to Park Won-soon and effectively helping him win in the election against a ruling party candidate, Ahn raised himself above that level of politics. He returned to the university campus and has so far made no response to strenuous calls from parties on the left and right to join them in the political arena.

Ahn’s donation is compared to President Lee Myung-bak’s establishment of a 33 billion won scholarship fund, which he promised during the 2007 primary campaigning and set up after his election and GNP presidential hopeful Chung Mong-joon’s commitment last August of a 500 billion won donation along with his relatives in Hyundai Group. But Ahn’s action emits stronger moral motivation, if not without political calculation, as he says in his e-mail to AhnLab employees that an enterprise has its meaning and value only when it shares its earnings with the society where it stands.

People wonder what his next step will be although we do not expect a direct political move such as joining an existing political force or creating a party on his own, perhaps until after the April general elections. In the meantime, he will have to disclose all his personal assets ― spiritual and material, academic and entrepreneurial ― for thorough public scrutiny as much about him is still unknown because of his relatively limited exposure to society.

Ahn Cheol-soo has so far stood for cleanness against political impurities as he crusaded for the great mass of grassroots struggling under what he perceived as increasingly unfair social and economic structures. At this moment, we only hope that politics a la Ahn Cheol-soo will continue to help purify our political environment, instead of becoming assimilated into it.